South Carolina Code of Regulations
Chapter 121 - DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES
Section 121-8.26 - Environmental Protection and Safety

A. All water shall be confined to its respective strata and shall be adequately protected in any exploration or production operations.

B. All drillers, owners, operators, and individuals having control of the operation of any oil or gas well, or well used for the disposal of saltwater and/or oil or gas field waste products, or pipeline through which oil, gas, saltwater, or oil or gas field waste products are piped or transported, or receiving tank, storage tank, or receiving tank, storage tank or receiving and storage receptacle into which crude oil, saltwater, or oil or gas field waste products are produced, received or stored, or through which oil, saltwater, or oil or gas field waste products are transported, shall immediately notify the Commission giving full details concerning any fires that occur at oil or gas wells or tanks or receptacles owned, operated, or controlled by them or on property controlled or leased by them, and all such persons shall immediately report to the Commission any and all tanks or receptacles struck by lighting and any fire that destroys oil or gas, and shall immediately report any breaks or leaks in or from tanks, pits, or other receptacles and pipelines from which oil, gas, saltwater, or oil or gas field waste products are escaping or have escaped. In all such reports of fire, breaks, leaks, blow-outs, escapes, or other accidents of such nature, the location of the well, tanks, pits, receptacles, and line breaks shall be given. Such reports shall specify what steps have been taken or are in progress to remedy the situation reported and shall detail the quantity (estimated, if no accurate measurement can be obtained, in which the report shall show the same is an estimate) of oil, gas, saltwater, or oil or gas field waste products lost, destroyed, or allowed to escape. In case any tank, pit or receptacle is allowed to run over, the escape thus occurring shall be reported as in the case of a leak. Following the initial notice required herein, a written report must be filed with the Commission within fifteen (15) days documenting the circumstances of all fires, breaks, leaks, or blow-outs. Such report hereby required as to oil, saltwater, or oil or gas field waste products losses shall be necessary only in the case such losses exceed two (2) barrels in the aggregate. Furthermore, if other agencies, federal or state, require notification of spills in accordance with standards other than those set forth herein, then duplicates of notification given to such other agencies shall immediately be given to the Commission, to be followed within fifteen (15) days by a written report documenting the initial report.

C. Before commencing to drill, the operator shall inform the Commission of the intended construction for pits and tanks for drilling mud or deleterious substances used in the drilling, completion, and recompletion of wells. Said pits and tanks shall be constructed and maintained so as to prevent pollution of surface and subsurface freshwater and shall be in accordance with applicable South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control Regulations. Under no circumstances shall said pits be used for the disposal, dumping or storage of fluids, wastes and other debris not used in drilling operations.

After a well is completed or plugged and abandoned, all drilling mud remaining in such pits shall be safely returned to the well on location or an acceptable adjacent well, or removed to a lawfully approved landfill, or disposed of as directed by the Commission, within ninety (90) days of completion of the well, except as otherwise approved by the Commission. Pits shall be backfilled with earth and leveled in such a manner as to be returned to a near natural state. The construction and operation of such tanks and pits shall be in complete compliance with all relevant rules, regulations, and requirements of other local, state, and federal agencies.

D. Within ninety (90) days, except as otherwise approved by the Commission, after a well is completed or plugged and abandoned, all pits and sumps shall be properly filled, compacted, and leveled, in such a manner so as to be returned to a near natural state.